The Grace Effect, Week 2: Grace Experienced

Join us again this week as we continue our series, The Grace Effect. We hope you enjoy Pastor Shane speaking on grace experienced. I do not at all understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. –Anne Lamott   Title of Message: Grace Experienced (Luke 7:47) (CEV) “So I tell you that all her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love.   Grace won’t ignore you because grace was created for you.   (Hebrews 13:9) (NCV) “Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules”   (Psalm 103:2) (ESV) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,   Experience Grace:   1.    Experience Forgiveness   (John 8:2-5) At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”   (John 8:6-7) They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”   (John 8:8-10) Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”   (John 8:11) “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”   Grace is the face that God wears when He looks at my failures.   2. Experience Freedom    Confessors find a freedom that deniers don’t because they find grace.   (1 John 8-9) (NCV) If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.   (Galatians 5:1) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.   (2 Corinthians 12:9) “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”   The grace-given give grace.   3.    Experience Family   (Ephesians 1:5) (NLT) “to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  And this gave him great pleasure.”   (Romans 8:15, 17) (NCV) “become his children and call him our Father.… we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”   4.    Experience Friendship   (Matthew 26:69) (NLT) Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”   (Matthew 26:70) (NLT) But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.   (Matthew 26:71-72) (NLT) Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.   (Matthew 26:73-74) (NLT) A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”  Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.   (Matthew 26:75) Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.   (Mark 16:6-7) “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”   5.    Experience Forever   (Hebrews 13:9) (NIV) “It is good that the heart be established by grace.”   Grace is the gift of feeling sure that our future, even our dying, is going to turn out more splendidly than we dare imagine. –Lewis Smedes   (Titus 2:11-12) “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”   (2 Timothy 2:1) “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”   Do you know this grace? Do you trust this grace?   (Proverbs 3:5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.